Better Iraq

It is a known fact how great and powerful Nabuchadnezzar was, being the king of the mightiest and greatest kingdom in the world at that time, The Babylonian Empire…
His deeds and contributions to his people and empire were numerous and unforgettable. Babylon was indeed the centre of the universe at that time…
A picture showing the King Nabuchadnezzar

However, the succession after his death in 562 BC was troublesome. Three reckless kings sat on the throne of Babylon, but their rule wasn’t of any significance or benefit to the Empire; it has been greatly awakened, rather than strengthened.
As a result of that, the Persians took the chance when Babylon was weak and unstable, and stabbed the Babylonians in the back in spite of the peaceful relations between the two empires…
The King of the Medes even married his daughter, Amytis to the Babylonian King, Nabuchadnezzar to keep a good relation with the powerful counterpart, and to prevent them from invading their country…
Nabonidus was appointed the next king; he was mentally unstable and headed into an oasis in the Arabian Desert, leaving Babylon for more than 10 years…
He made his foolish, young, and spoilt son, Belshazzar (grandson of Nabuchadnezzar), the viceroy of Babylon, and put him in charge of his officials and army.
A picture showing the King Nabonidus

According to the Bible, and confirmed by the Greek historian philosopher, Herodotus, in October of 539 BC, Belshazzar hosted a great feast, inviting a thousand of his lords, officials and guests to wine and dine inside the Royal Palace… everybody was happy and drinking.
The Great Feast

In the middle of Belshazzar’s feast, a horrible and scary scene happened, a human hand appeared out of nowhere. It wasn’t attached to a body. And it began to write in Aramaic on the wall of the royal banquet hall in front of all the guests… The entire hall was terrified and went quiet. Belshazzar was terrified, pale, and began to shake all over. The only sound was the sound of a finger scratching giant letters that shined like fire on the plaster wall.
The hand wrote “Mene, Mene, Tekel Peres Upharsin” in Aramaic. Nobody understood what the writing meant.
Aramaic writing on the wall

The writing here is shown in Hebrew, but it’s confirmed that it was in Aramaic (maybe the painter was Jewish)

Again, Jewish alphabet instead of Aramaic

Greatly alarmed, Belshazzar immediately called upon all the priests, magicians, astrologers, and wise men of Babylon to decipher and interpret the meaning of the inscription (whoever shall read and interpret the meaning, will be the third most powerful man in Babylon)… Unfortunately, nobody knew what the writing meant…

The Queen, Nabuchadnezzar’s wife, advised the king to call upon the Prophet Daniel. She told him how Daniel was the right hand of his grandfather, Nabuchadnezzar, and how very wise and knowledgeable he was in interpreting dreams, and solving riddles and answering puzzles…
And according to her suggestion, Daniel was immediately brought before the king… refusing all the king’s rewards and gifts, he offered to tell the king what the writing meant…
Prophet Daniel in front of Belshazzar

Daniel started explaining the meaning behind this mysterious inscription…”Mene, Mene, Tekel and Pharsin”

(Mene) means that God has counted out the number of days you will be a king, and they are over…
(Tekel) means that God has weighed you in the balance, and found you wanting…
(Peres and Pharsin) means that the kingdom will be divided, and given to the Medes and the Persians…
Daniel’s Vision, the Persian Army surrounding Babylon

Before the great feast, Cyrus’ army had engaged the Babylonian army outside of the city’s walls and routed them.
A picture showing a battle betwen the Persians and the Babylonians, outside the city walls

Because of the foolish King’s feast, he ordered the Army to withdraw and return inside the city, confident enough that Cyrus would never be able to get through Babylon, with its huge thick walls, and an amount of food stored inside the city, sufficient for 20 years! and also, a great natural source of water, the Euphrates river, passing right through the city…
During the Siege, the Persian Army, led by Gobryas have concluded the only weak point of Babylon… the water.
They diverted the Euphrates river from its original path, which resulted in the dryness of the river’s basin inside Babylon… There wasn’t any water left for the city…
Cyrus’ Army infiltrates Babylon, it was said that they were in awe of the city’s majestic and prestigeous scenery

Nabonidus returned to Babylon after it was occupied by the Persians and he and his son, Belshazzar, were slain by the Persian army.
Gobryas slays Nabonidus

After Babylon has been captured by the Persians, the Persian King, Cyrus came to Babylon from Persia…
Fourteen days after his army had “captured” Babylon (October 30, 539 BC) Cyrus entered the city.

Cyrus, seen standing is inside Babylon

A picture depicting Cyrus, the Great

Another one…

That was the end of one of the most beautiful, impressive, and powerful cities in the world, Babylon… which also declares the end of one of the mightiest and greatest empires that ruled the world at that time, The Babylonian Empire…

Have a look at this beautiful Sumerian piece of art depicting the three different social classes that were recognised in the community at that time…The Layer at the top of the Pyramid or the (Upper Class) represents the nobles, priests, government officials and warriors…The (Middle Class), or the layer in the middle represents the merchants, traders and artisans…The (Lower Class) constituted the majority of population, containing serfs and slaves that were responsible for all manual labor.
Please check out this site…. you will find an interactive depiction of this sculpture (The Peace Side), so you can click on the different parts of the drawings to see a bigger (magnificated) portion of the sculpture….Furthermore, you will see an arrow at the bottom right corner of the sculpture, you can click on that to see the back of it (The War Side)… you can also see different magnificated portions of that side as well…The Peace Side represents the Sumerian Society and its three divisions of social classes (Upper, Middle, Lower)….The War Side represents the different classes of the Sumerian Army (Chariots, Soldiers, Warriors)….Here are pictures of the two sides…

The Peace Side

The War Side

This Article talks about the Mesopotamian Mythology: the different gods and goddesses, their relation to each other, and the specialty of each one. Since our civilization is the oldest one in the world, it always had a huge influence on other neighboring cultures, such as Persia, Phoenicia, and Greece… part of this influence was Mythology.The Greek Mythology (most famous in the world) greatly resembles ours in many different aspects, their philosophers have always founded their epics and stories on our Mesopotamian material, which is hundreds of years older… it was their source of inspiration.Below is a diagram, representing the (Family Tree) of the Mesopotamian deities. 1)
 
Blue color indicates a male god, and the red color indicates a female goddess. 2) Some have two names, the first one represents the Sumerian name, and the second one (in brackets) represents the Babylonian (Semitic) name.
Example: Utu (Shamash) Utu = Sumerian � Shamash = Babylonian (Semitic) 3) During the explanation, I will use only one name (the most popular)
According to the Mesopotamian
Mythology, at the very beginning there was only Abzu and Tiamat. Their union
resulted in the creation of the universe, and the existence of all the other
deities that followed. Both Abzu and Tiamat are considered supreme deities but
yet, they have no temples at all.Abzu: The Sweet water Ocean God. The father of all the other gods and
goddesses, and the creator of the universe. Husband of Tiamat, father of Anshar
and Kishar.
The name (Abzu/Apsu) is the original root word, from which the English word
(Abyss) comes from.Tiamat: The Salt water Ocean Goddess. The mother of all the other gods
and goddesses, and the creator of the universe. Wife of Abzu, mother of Anshar
and Kishar.
Tiamat is a huge and evil, serpent-like creature (snake or dragon), w hich was
later killed by Marduk, who became the national god of Babylonians.Here, Tiamat is depicted as an innocent mermaid
This picture is the most accurate representation about Tiamat… depicted as a
big snake-like creature.
Here, Tiamat is depicted as a dragon

Anshar and Kishar: Children of Abzu and Tiamat. Respectively, father and
mother of Anu and Antu.
Anu: The powerful Sky God, ruler of Heavens. Husband of Antu, father of
Enki and Enlil. The main temple for Anu is in the Sumerian city of Uruk.
Antu: The Sky Goddess. Wife of Anu, mother of Enki and Enlil.
Nintu: The Earth Goddess. Wife of Shulpae, mother of Ninurta.
Shulpae: The Earth God. Husband of Nintu, father of Ninurta.
Ninurta: The War God. Son of Nintu and Shulpae..
Ninurta has the face of an eagle and the body of a human, and he was also known
for his violent behavior and bad temper. Planet Saturn is his symbol.
Ninurta is shown here, with a face of an eagle and a body of a human being
(original)

Lugalbanda: King of Uruk. Husband of Ninsun, father of Gilgamesh.
Ninsun: The Sheep Goddess. Mother of Gilgamesh, from her first husband:
Lugalbanda. Also, mother of Tammuz and Geshtinanna, from her second husband:
Enki.
Gilgamesh: Shepherd-King of Uruk. Son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun.
Two thirds of Gilgamesh is divine (god) and one third is mortal (human). He was
the hero of the Epic named after him, and was responsible for the killing of
Nergal.


Enki: The powerful
Water and Wisdom God. Father of Marduk from his first wife: Ninki. Also, father
of Tammuz and Geshtinanna, from his second wife: Ninsun. The main temple for
Enki is in the Sumerian city of Eridu.Enki is believed to live in a watery nature, as shown here… He is inside the
square.
Enki is shown here, with the fish flowing into his body
Magnification of the previous picture
Drawing of the previous picture
Ninki: The Water Goddess. Wife of Enki, mother of Marduk.
Geshtinanna: Lady of Wine. Daughter of Enki and Ninsun, sister of Tammuz.
Tammuz: Shepherd-King of Uruk. Son of Enki and Ninsun, brother of
Geshtinanna.
He was a simple poor shepherd feeding his sheep in the fields, then he fell in
love with Ishtar and married her, but later he betrayed her and therefore, had
to be punished.
Enlil: The powerful Air God. Husband of Ninlil, father of Nanna. The main
temple for Enlil is in the Sumerian city of Nippur.
Ninlil: The Air Goddess. Wife of Enki, mother of Nanna.
Marduk: Son of Enki and Ninki. The main temple of Marduk is in Babylon.
Planet Jupiter is his symbol.



According to our history, Tiamat felt jealous from the others deities, and
decided to destroy the world. Nobody had enough courage to confront and
challenge her except Marduk. A great battle marked the conflict between Marduk
and Tiamat, the Good and the Evil. At the end, Marduk was victorious, he cut
Tiamat in two halves, one half formed the Earth and the other half formed the
Sky, and her two eyes created the two Rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. As a
result, Marduk was considered a hero and became the National God of Babylonians.
Marduk is shown here, trying to kill the evil Tiamat

A European/Western depiction of the battle between Marduk and Tiamat (imaginary)

The real Sumerian tablet featuring the battle of Marduk and Tiamat

Nanna: The Moon God.
Husband of Ningal, father of Shamash, Ishtar, and Ereshkigal. The main temple of
Nanna was in the Sumerian city of Ur. The Moon is his symbol.Ningal: Wife of Nanna, mother of Shamash, Ishtar, and Ereshkigal.Shamash: The Sun and Justice God, the provider of Law. Son of Nanna,
brother of Ishtar and Ereshkigal. The main temple of Shamash is in the Sumerian
city of Sippar. The Sun is his symbol.Shamash is shown on the right, sitting on his thrown… King Hammurabi is on the
left s ide, getting the law code from Shamash

Nergal: The evil God of the Underworld. Husband of Ereshkigal.
He has the face of a human being and the body of a bull, therefore, he is also
known as the Bull of Heaven. Nergal was later killed by Gilgamesh, according to
the Epic. Planet Mars is his symbol.
Nergal is shown here, with a face of a human and a body of a bull

A Western/European depiction of Nergal in a human form

Ereshkigal: The evil Goddess of the Underworld. Wife of Nergal, sister of
Shamash and Ishtar.
She rules the dark world of the death, and takes away the living souls of humans
beings. Ereshkigal was believed to be very jealous of her sister, Ishtar, who
had all the beauty, and importance… in addition to her love story with Tammuz.
Western/European depiction of Ereshkigal

The real Sumerian tablet featuring Ereshkigal… shown here standing on two
lions, with two owls in the background… reflects the evil and dark environment
of the Underworld.

Ishtar: The most important identity in the Mesopotamian Mythology.
Goddess of love, sex, and fertility. Daughter of Nanna, sister of Ereshkigal and
Shamash, wife of Tammuz. The main temple of Ishtar is in the Sumerian city of
Uruk. Planet Venus is her symbol.
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The real Sumerian tablet featuring Ishtar, standing on two goats… reflects the
peaceful nature of her

Ishtar is shown here with her scepture

In ancient times the land area now known as modern Iraq was almost equivalent to Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates (in Arabic, the Dijla and Furat, respectively), the Mesopotamian plain was called the Fertile Crescent. This region is known as the Cradle of Civilization; was the birthplace of the varied civilizations that moved us from prehistory to history. An advanced civilization flourished in this region long before that of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, for it was here in about 4000BC that the Sumerian culture flourished . The civilized life that emerged at Sumer was shaped by two conflicting factors: the unpredictability of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which at any time could unleash devastating floods that wiped out entire peoples, and the extreme richness of the river valleys, caused by centuries-old deposits of soil. Thus, while the river valleys of southern Mesopotamia attracted migrations of neighboring peoples and made possible, for the first time in history, the growing of surplus food, the volatility of the rivers necessitated a form of collective management to protect the marshy, low-lying land from flooding. As surplus production increased and as collective management became more advanced, a process of urbanization evolved and Sumerian civilization took root. The people of the Tigris and the Euphrates basin, the ancient Sumerians, using the fertile land and the abundant water supply of the area, developed sophisticated irrigation systems and created what was probably the first cereal agriculture as well as the earliest writing, cuneiform – a way of arranging impression stamped on clay by the wedge-like section of chopped-off reed stylus into wet clay. Through writing, the Sumerians were able to pass on complex agricultural techniques to successive generations; this led to marked improvements in agricultural production.Writing evolved to keep track of property. Clay envelopes marked with the owner’s rolled seal were used to hold tokens for goods, the tokens within recording a specific transaction. Later on, the envelope and tokens were discarded and symbols scratched into clay recorded transactions such as 2 bunches of wheat or 7 cows. As writing evolved, pictures gave way to lines pressed into clay with a wedge tip; this allowed a scribe to make many different types of strokes without changing his grip. By 3,000 BC, the script evolved into a full syllabic alphabet. The commerce of the times is recorded in great depth. Double entry accounting practices were found to be a part of the records. This remarkable innovation has been used to this day, as a standard for record keeping. It was the custom for all to pay for what they needed at a fair price. Royalty was not exception. The king may have had an edge on getting a “better deal”, but it wasn’t the law as it was in Egypt where the Pharaoh was the “living god” and as such, owned all things. It seems that everyone had the right to bargain fairly for his or her goods. Unlike their Egyptian neighbors, these people were believers in private property, and the kings were very much answerable to the citizens. In Egypt, all things, including the people and property, were owned by the pharaoh. Sumerians invented the wheel and the first plow in 3700 BC. Sumerians developed a math system based on the numeral 60, which is the basis of time in the modern world. Sumerian society was “Matriarchal” and women had a highly respected place in society. Banking originated in Mesopotamia (Babylonia) out of the activities of temples and palaces, which provided safe places for the storage of valuables. Initially deposits of grain were accepted and later other goods including cattle, agricultural implements, and precious metals. Another important Sumerian legacy was the recording of literature. Poetry and epic literature were produced. The most famous Sumerian epic and the one that has survived in the most nearly complete form is the epic of Gilgamesh. The story of Gilgamesh, who actually was king of the city-state of Uruk in approximately 2700 BC, is a moving story of the ruler’s deep sorrow at the death of his friend Enkidu, and of his consequent search for immortality. Other central themes of the story are a devastating flood and the tenuous nature of man’s existence, and ended by meeting a wise and ancient man who had survived a great flood by building an ark. Land was cultivated for the first time, early calendars were used and the first written alphabet was invented here. Its bountiful land, fresh waters, and varying climate contributed to the creation of deep-rooted civilization that had fostered humanity from its affluent fountain since thousand of years. Sumerian states were believed to be under the rule of a local god or goddess, and a bureaucratic system of the priesthood arose to oversee the ritualistic and complex religion. High Priests represented the gods on earth, one of their jobs being to discern the divine will. A favorite method of divination was reading sheep or goat entrails. The priests ruled from their ziggurats, high rising temples of sunbaked brick with outside staircases leading to the shrine on top. The Sumerian gods personified local elements and natural forces. The Sumerians worshiped anu, the supreme god of heaven, Enlil, god of water, and Ea, god of magic and creator of man. The Sumerians held the belief that a sacred ritual marriage between the ruler and Inanna, goddess of love and fertility brought rich harvests.Eventually, the Sumerians would have to battle another peoples, the Akkadians, who migrated up from the Arabian Peninsula. The Akkadians were a Semitic people, that is, they spoke a language drawn from a family of languages called Semitic languages; a Semitic languages include Hebrew, Arabic, Assyrian, and Babylonian (the term “Semite” is a modern designation taken from the Hebrew Scriptures; Shem was a son of Noah and the nations descended from Shem are the Semites). When the two peoples clashed, the Sumerians gradually lost control over the city-states they had so brilliantly created and fell under the hegemony of the Akkadian kingdom, which was based in Akkad (Sumerian Agade). This great capital of the largest empire humans had ever seen up until that point that was later to become Babylon, which was the commercial and cultural center of the Middle East for almost two thousand years.In 2340 BC, the great Akkadian military leader, Sargon, conquered Sumer and built an Akkadian empire stretching over most of the Sumerian city-states and extending as far away as Lebanon. Sargon based his empire in the city of Akkad, which became the basis of the name of his people.
But Sargon’s ambitious empire lasted for only a blink of an eye in the long time spans of Mesopotamian history. In 2125 BC, the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia rose up in revolt, and the Akkadian empire fell before a renewal of Sumerian city-states.
Mesopotamia is the suspected spot known as the “Garden of Eden.” Ur of the Chaldees, and that’s where Abraham came from, (that’s just north of the traditional site of the Garden of Eden, about twenty-five miles northeast of Eridu, at present Mughair), was a great and famous Sumerian city, dating from this time. Predating the Babylonian by about 2,000 years, was Noah, who lived in Fara, 100 miles southeast of Babylon (from Bab-ili, meaning “Gate of God”). The early Assyrians, some of the earliest people there, were known to be warriors, so the first wars were fought there, and the land has been full of wars ever since. The Assyrians were in the northern part of Mesopotamia and the Babylonians more in the middle and southern part.
Iraq War on Ancient Artifacts of Mesopotamia
When the Gulf War ended, looters smuggled thousands of artifacts out of Iraq. Many other priceless monuments from thousands of years old civilizations were left lying around to be destroyed carelessly and casually. With the new U.S. – Iraq war, the spectre looms of smart bombs hitting thousands upon thousands of archaeological treasure troves.   read more…

By Joe Bob Briggs
NEW YORK, (UPI) — Every decade or so, we should remind ourselves of who the Iraqis are:

1. Twelve thousand years ago, they invented irrigated farming. They got to be so good at it that, today, they can still produce all the food they need even when “sanctions” are imposed.
2. They invented writing.
3. They figured out how to tell time.
4. They founded modern mathematics.
5. In the Code of Hammurabi, they invented the first legal system that protects the weak, the widow and the orphan.
6. Five thousand years ago, they had philosophers who attempted to list every known thing in the world.
7. They were using Pythagoras’ theorem 1,700 years before Pythagoras.
8. They invented artificial building materials, some kind of pre-fab-crete stuff used to construct high-rise towers.
9. Ur, in southeast Iraq, is assumed to be the place we’re all descended from.
10. They were the first people to build cities and live in them.
11. For thousands of years, they wrote the greatest poetry, history and “sagas” in the world.
12. Because they were great horse breeders, they invented the cavalry in war.
13. The Iraq Museum in Baghdad contains some of the most outstanding stone, metal and clay sculptures and inscriptions created in the history of the world. Some of them are more than 7,000 years old. If a bomb hits this place, art lovers around the world will go into mourning.
14. The first school for astronomers was established by Iraqis. This is how the “wise men” got to be so wise. They knew how to follow the star.
15. Beginning around 800 A.D., the Iraqis founded universities that imported teachers from throughout the civilized world to teach medicine, mathematics, philosophy, theology, literature and poetry.
16. For the first 1,200 years of its existence, Baghdad was regarded as one of the most refined, civilized and festive cities in the world.
17. Abraham, the father of Israel, was from Iraq.
18. Abraham, the father of Islam, was from Iraq.
19. Abraham, the father and “model” of Christian faith, was from Iraq.
20. Saddam Hussein doesn’t regard himself as the heir of Abraham, or even as the heir of Muhammad. He regards himself, first and foremost, as the heir of Nebuchadnezzar. He identifies, in other words, with the enslaver, not the enslaved.

Everything we know about the rest of Iraq tells us that he is the exception,not the Iraqis.

Ehtnic Groups 
Arabs
They are almost 75% to 80% of Iraq’s population.  

 Kurds
They are about 15% to 20% of the Iraqi population, They live in the north and have had a lot of trouble with the central government. Regardless, the situation for Iraqi Kurds it is much better than that of Kurds in neighboring countries.  

 Turkmen, Assyrian, Chaldenian Jews, and other
Turkmen, Assyrian, Chaldenian Jews, and other are part of the iraqi socity. They live mostly in the main cities of iraq.  

  Religions 
Shiaa Muslims
They are about 60%-65%, mostly living in the south of Iraq.  

 Sunni Muslems
They are about 31% to 36% of the Iraqi population, they live almost all over the country with concentration in central Iraq.  

 Christian
They are about 3% of Iraq, living mostly in Baghdad and also in the northern parts of Iraq.  

 Others
They are about 1% of Iraq, There are Jews and Yazeeden , they are few but still part of the Iraqi socity.  

Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 1990
In July 1979 the president, Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakr, was replaced by Saddam Hussein, his vice president, chosen successor, and the true ruler of Iraq. Saddam then assumed both of the vacated offices and purged political rivals in order to assure his position. Once more the political situation flared into hostilities with Iran. On September 17, 1980 Saddam declares the Iraqi/Iranian borders agreement (Algiers Agreement) null and void, claiming the whole of Shatt el-Arab back to Iraq. The Iran-Iraq War, which began 5 days later on September 22, 1980, lasted for eight years and had a crippling effect on the economy of both countries; in which after eight years of war no territory had been gained by either side but an estimated one million lives had been lost. In July 1988, Iran accepted the terms of UN Resolution 598, and the cease-fire came into force on 20th August 1988. Before Iraq had a chance to recover economically, it was once more plunged into war, this time with its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.  

Saddam Family in Power
In May 1995 Saddam sacked his half-brother, Wathban, as Interior Minister and in July demoted his notorious and powerful Defense Minister, Ali Hassan al- Majid, known popularly as ‘Chemical Ali’ because of his role in gassing operations in Kurdistan. These personnel changes were the result of the growth in power of his two sons, Udai and Qusai, who were given effective vice-presidential authority in May 1995. They have been able to remove most of Saddam’s loyal followers and it is clear that Saddam feels more secure protected by his immediate family members. In August Major General Hussein Kamil Hassan al-Majid, his Minister of Military Industries and a key henchman, defected to Jordan, together with his wife (one of Saddam’s daughters) and his brother, Saddam, who was married to another of the president’s daughters, and called for the overthrow of the regime. In response, Saddam promised full co-operation with the UN commission disarming Iraq (UNSCOM) in order to pre-empt any revelations that the defector could make.  

British government decided to draw up a new plan for the state of Iraq
The British government had laid out the institutional framework for Iraqi government and politics; the Iraqi political system suffered from a severe legitimacy crisis; Britain imposed a Hashimite (also seen as Hashemite) monarchy, defined the territorial limits of Iraq with little correspondence to natural frontiers or traditional tribal and ethnic settlements, and influenced the writing of a constitution and the structure of parliament. The British also supported narrowly based groups–such as the tribal shaykhs–over the growing, urban-based nationalist movement, and resorted to military force when British interests were threatened, as in the 1941 Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani coup.  

9th century House of Wisdom in Baghdad
By the 9th century, al-Mamun was the caliph who was largely responsible for cultural expansion. The caliph al-Mamun was responsible for the translation of Greek works into Arabic. He founded in Baghdad (bait al-hikma) the Academy of Wisdom, which took over from the Persian University of Jundaisapur and soon became an active scientific center. The Academy’s large library was enriched by the translations that had been undertaken. Scholars of all races and religions were invited to work there. Its first director Hunayn ibn Ishaq translated the complete medical and philosophical works of Galen, the physics of Aristotle, and the Greek Old Testament, before his death in 873. Hunayns many students completed the translation of Plato, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, Euclid, and Pythagoras into Arabic, and made great original discoveries in mathematics, particularly in integral calculus and spherical astronomy.  

Most of the Iraqi tribes were Christian at the time of the Islamic conquest
The first battle of the Muslims became known as Dhat Al-Salasil (the battle of the Chains) because Persian soldiers were reportedly chained together so that they could not flee. Muslims offered the inhabitants of Iraq an ultimatum: “Accept the faith and you are safe; otherwise pay tribute. If you refuse to do either, you have only yourself to blame. A people is already upon you, loving death as you love life”. Most of the Iraqi tribes were Christian at the time of the Islamic conquest. They decided to pay the “jizya”, the tax required of non-Muslims living in Muslim-ruled areas, and were not further disturbed. The Persians rallied briefly under their hero, Rustum, and attacked the Muslims at Al-Hirah, west of the Euphrates. There, the Muslims soundly defeated them.  

The first evidence of batteries comes from archaeological digs inBaghdad, Iraq
The first evidence of batteries comes from archaeological digs inBaghdad, Iraq. This first “battery” was dated to around 250 B.C. andwas used in simple operations to electroplate objects with a thinlayer of metal, much like the process used now to plate inexpensivegold and silver jewelry. One of the first uses for batteries.Batteries were re-discovered much later by a man named AlessandroVolta after which the unit of electrical potential was named, thevolt. The jar was found in Khujut Rabu just outside Baghdad and iscomposed of a clay jar with a stopper made of asphalt. Stickingthrough the asphalt is an iron rod surrounded by a copper cylinder.When filled with vinegar – or any other electrolytic solution – thejar produces about 1.1 volts

Cities with the name Baghdad
1. Bagdad , Arizona, USA
2. Bagdad , Florida, USA
3. Bagdad , Kentucky , USA
4. Bagdad , louisiana , USA
5. Bagdad , Pennsylvania , USA (2 small cities in this state with the same bagdad name)
6. Bagdad , California , USA (2 cities)
7. Bagdad , New York , USA
8. Bagdad , Virginia , USA
9. Washigton DC , there is a part called “Bagdad junction”Outside USA,
1. Baghdadi, Georgia
2. Baghdada, Pakistan
3. baghdadi , Iran
4. baghdadi, Syria
5. Baghdadie , Mali
6. Bagadadji , Guinea
7. Bagadadji, Sengal
8. Bagdad , Uzbekistan
9. Bagdad , Australia
10. Bagdad , Romania
11. Bagdad , French Guiana
12. Baghdad , Afghanistan
13. Bagdad , Morocco

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, with more than 4 million peoples, situated in the interior of the country on the river Tigris at the point where land transportation meets river transportation. Among the industries of Baghdad are oil refineries, food-processing, tanneries and textile mills. Baghdad still has extensive production of handicrafts, like cloth, household utensils, leather, felt and rugs.
Baghdad is the most important center of learning in Iraq with the University of Baghdad (established in 1957), Al-Mustansiriyya University (established in 1963) and the University of Technology (established in 1974).
Baghdad was the center of the Muslim world during the years while the Caliphate stayed in Baghdad, starting in the 760s (Baghdad started being constructed in 763) running up to 1258. There were other cities used as capital for the Caliphate for short periods but Baghdad retained its splendor until it was destroyed by the advancing Mongols in 1258. Baghdad kept its position to a certain degree after this, but declined after the discovery of the sea route between Europe and India in 1497.
Baghdad was made capital of Iraq in 1921, from when it started to grow again. Baghdad is a real city, not just a large town, and its lights are still twinkling in the river at half past one in the morning. It is the river that ‘makes’ Baghdad. The Tigris, brown and swift, is the heart and soul of the City of the Caliphs.
Baghdad is not a city of stately majesty. It is not ornate and grand. It does not take your breath away like Venice, or make your heart beat a little faster like New York. It is, so to speak, a water color, not an oil painting. It is flat and dusty – indeed, from time to time it is enveloped in maddening storms that fling dust into your room, your car, food, eyes, ears, mouth. Baghdad has muted values. It is an ancient city struggling awkwardly to be modern. If it lacks glamour, it has considerable charm. And if even the charm must be delved for, to me such delving seems worthwhile because, more than many cities, Baghdad reflects the most unusual, country that frames it. Iraq, after all, is the old, old Mesopotamia of Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, of the glorious sun-burst of the Abbasid Empire of Harun al Rashid, of Persian intrusions, and the affliction of four hundred dead years of Turkish rule. In other words, Baghdad is the still-beating heart of a former cradle of civilization, a country as historically dramatic as Ancient Greece or the Nile Valley.
History Of Baghdad
Babylonian bricks bearing the Royal Seal of King Nebuchadnezzar (sixth century BC) were found in the Tigris here. But whatever settlement existed then, historic Baghdad was undoubtedly founded by the second of the Abbasid Caliphs, Mansur (AD 750-775), and the name Baghdad is probably a combination of two Persian words meaning ‘Founded by God’. Arabs call it ‘The City of Peace’.
The founding of Baghdad by Mansur came about in this way: the first Abbasid Caliph, Abul Abbas, had built a palace on the Euphrates at Anbar, but it didn’t suit Mansur, who at once began to search about for somewhere more centrally placed from which to administer the new empire. Soon the site of a Sassanian village on the west bank of the Tigris caught his eye, and in · the spring of AD 762 the lines were traced out. This first Baghdad took four years to build and Mansur employed one hundred thousand architects, craftsmen and workers from all over the Islamic world. Thus came into being the famous Round City of Mansur, with double brick walls, a deep moat and a third innermost wall ninety feet high. Four highways radiated out of four gates and at the hub of everything was built the Caliph’s palace with a green dome. A certain amount of judicious stealing went on: many of the stones for the palace- the center of the universe- came from the ruins of the Persian city of Ctesiphon not far away; a wrought-iron gate was taken from Wasit, another from Kufa. And a man who did more than most to help Mansur build his new city was the Imam Abu Hanifa, whose tomb you can see in Baghdad to this day.
Soon merchants built bazaars and houses round the Basra (southern) Gate and formed a district of their own called Kerkh, and this was joined by a bridge of boats to the east bank of the Tigris- where most of modern Baghdad stands in the district of Rasafa. Two cemeteries grew up- one in Adhimiya and another where Kadhimain now houses the shrines of two of the twelve Imams.